Donald Trump Boosts Europe's Anti-Establishment Movement

"What America can do we can do as well."

"America has just liberated itself from
political correctness. The American people expressed their desire to
remain a free and democratic people. Now it is time for Europe. We can
and will do the same!" — Geert Wilders, Dutch
MP, head of the Party for Freedom (PVV), and now on trial in the
Netherlands for free speech.

"2016 is, by the looks of it, going to
be the year of two great political revolutions. I thought Brexit was big
but boy this looks like it is going to be even bigger." — Nigel Farage,
MEP and leader of the UK Independence Party.

"The political class is reviled across
much of the West, the polling industry is bankrupt and the press just
hasn't woken up to what's going on in the world." — Nigel Farage.

"In a democracy, when the people feel
ignored and despised, they will find a way to be heard. This vote is the
consequence of a revolt of the middle class against a ruling elite that
wants to impose what they should think." —
Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the French opposition party The
Republicans.

Donald Trump's electoral victory has come as a shock to Europe's
political and media establishment, which fears that the political sea
change underway in the United States will energize populist parties in
Europe.
Anti-establishment politicians, many of whom are polling well in a
number of upcoming European elections, are hoping Trump's rise will
inspire European voters to turn out to vote for them in record numbers.
Commenting on Trump's victory, Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, wrote:
"America has just liberated itself from political correctness. The
American people expressed their desire to remain a free and democratic
people. Now it is time for Europe. We can and will do the same!"
More than a dozen elections will be held in Europe during the next
twelve months, beginning with a re-run of the Austrian presidential
election scheduled for December 4. Polls show that Norbert Hofer, of the
anti-immigration Austrian Freedom Party, is on
track to win that race.
Also on December 4, Italians will vote in a referendum on reforming
the constitution. Observers say Trump's victory will make it more
difficult for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, one the few world
leaders publicly to endorse Hillary Clinton, to prevail.
They say Renzi's open support for Clinton will hurt Italy's relations
with the United States. Renzi has said he will resign if he loses the
referendum, which calls for curbing the role of the Senate. Most opinion
polls show the "no" camp ahead. Renzi says
the move will simplify decision-making, but opponents say it will
reduce checks and balances.
General elections are scheduled in 2017 for the Czech Republic,
France, Germany and the Netherlands, EU countries where
anti-establishment candidates are challenging the established order.
Mainstream politicians and the media have sought to discredit
populist leaders by branding them as neo-Nazi and xenophobic for their
opposition to mass migration, multiculturalism and the rise of Islam in
Europe. If Donald Trump can demonstrate that he is
able to govern the United States and produce tangible results,
especially by growing the economy and curbing illegal immigration,
Europe's political establishment will have a much harder time
stigmatizing dissenters.

Anti-establishment
politicians in Europe, such as Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders
(left) in the Netherlands and UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage
(right), have embraced Donald Trump and hope his
rise will inspire European voters to turn out to vote for them in
record numbers.

What follows is a selection of official European reactions to Trump's
election victory. Anti-establishment politicians have embraced Trump,
while establishment politicians have mostly issued pro forma
congratulatory statements that are polite but formal
and distant.Austria. The leader of the Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, congratulated Trump on Facebook. He wrote:

"Little by little, the political left and the out-of-touch and
corrupt establishment is being punished by voters and driven from power.
This is a good thing, because the law comes from the people. The
Austrian mainstream media, which has been campaigning
against Trump for weeks and prematurely declared Hillary Clinton the
victor, were embarrassed by the voting public."

Belgium. The populist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party
congratulated Trump and said his unexpected election victory could be
repeated in Europe. Party chairman Tom Van Grieken tweeted:
"U.S. election shows again how far politicians are from the people." In another tweet, he wrote: "The rise of
Trump is not an isolated phenomenon. In Europe too, more and more voters want real change."Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May said:

"I would like to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the next
President of the United States, following a hard-fought campaign.
Britain and the United States have an enduring and special relationship
based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.
We are, and will remain, strong and close partners on trade, security
and defense."

The leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, who
successfully campaigned for the "Brexit" referendum for Britain to leave
the European Union, said Trump's victory did not surprise him. He tweeted:

"2016 is, by the looks of it, going to be the year of two great
political revolutions. I thought Brexit was big but boy this looks like
it is going to be even bigger."

He also tweeted: "I hand over the mantle to @RealDonaldTrump! Many congratulations. You have fought a brave campaign."
Speaking to ITV, Farage said: "The political class is reviled across much
of the West, the polling industry is bankrupt and the press just hasn't woken up to what's going on in the world."Czech Republic. President Milos Zeman said Trump's election was a victory over "media manipulation." He said:

"I would like to cordially congratulate Donald Trump. I had, as one
of few European politicians, declared public support for this candidate
because I agree with his opinions on migration as well as the fight
against Islamic terrorism. I appreciate Donald
Trump's public demeanor. He speaks clearly, sometimes roughly, but
understandably, and avoids what is sometimes called political
correctness."

"Europe and the United States simply have no option but to cooperate
as closely as possible. I listened with attention to President-elect
Trump's call for American unity. And I, in turn, would like to call for
European and transatlantic unity. I do not believe
that any country today can be great in isolation. But I do believe that
America and Europe can, should and will work together. It is in our
common interest. We have to recognise that this will take major efforts
from both sides. The EU is a strong and reliable
partner and will remain so. We expect the same from America and its new
President."

France. President François Hollande tweeted: "The American people have expressed themselves. They elected Donald
Trump. I congratulate him. I am also thinking of Hillary Clinton."
The French Ambassador to the US, Gérard Araud, tweeted: "This is the end of an epoch. After Brexit and this vote anything is possible. The
world is crumbling in front of our eyes." He later deleted the tweet.
Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said:
"What's happening in the US could happen in France."
Former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said:
"The boundaries of reason disappeared with Brexit, the main lesson for France is that Le Pen can win."
Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the opposition party The Republicans, said:
"In a democracy, when the people feel ignored and despised, they will
find a way to be heard. This vote is the consequence of a revolt of the
middle class against a ruling elite that wants to impose what they
should think."
The leader of the National Front party, Marine Le Pen, tweeted: "Congratulations to the new president of the
United States Donald Trump and the free American people!"
Le Pen's father, party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, tweeted: "Today the United States, tomorrow France."Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who did not mention Trump by name, lectured the president-elect
on values:

"Germany and America are connected by values of democracy, freedom
and respect for the law and the dignity of man, independent of origin,
skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views. I
offer the next president of the United States
close cooperation on the basis of these values."

"Trump is the harbinger of a new authoritarian and chauvinist
international movement. He is also a warning for us. Our country and
Europe must change if we want to counter the authoritarian international
movement."

"We hope that we are not facing greater instability in international
politics. During his campaign, Trump was critical not just of Europe,
but also of Germany. I believe we must prepare for American foreign
policy becoming less predictable. We must prepare
for a situation in which America will be tempted to make decisions on
its own more often.
"I do not want to sugarcoat it: Nothing will be easier and much will
be more difficult. Just as we Germans learned a lot in the past from our
American friends, we should now encourage our American friends to stay
true to past partnerships and to us."

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Trump's victory was "a big shock" and "not a vote for him
but rather against Washington, against the establishment." She added:

"Of course we Europeans, as a NATO ally, know that if Donald Trump
becomes president, he'll ask: What are you contributing to this
alliance? But we're also wondering, what's your position on this
alliance?"

Justice Minister Heiko Maas tweeted: "The world won't end. But it will get crazier."
The leader of the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party,
Frauke Petry, predicted that Trump's victory would result in a political
change in Europe too. On Facebook, she wrote:

"It was high time that in the United States of America, people who
feel disaffected withdrew their vote for the political establishment.
While 93% of voters in Washington, DC voted for Clinton in order to
retain their own power structures, the majority of
voters across the country want a political new beginning, an economic
recovery for the stricken middle class and an end of division in what is
still the most powerful country in the world.
"This election result is encouraging for Germany and for Europe,
because Trump really has the cards for political sea-change in his hand.
I congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory and on this
historic chance....
"Like Americans, citizens of Germany must have the courage to put a
tick in the ballot box and not remain complacent. Their opinion counts,
even if political correctness would appear to have elevated the decreed
consensus to the level of a new doctrine."

"Donald Trump's victory is a clear signal that citizens of the
Western world want political change. This is a surprise only to the
establishment. In the USA as well as Germany, citizens wish for secure
borders, less globalism, and politics that focus with
common sense on issues in their own country."

Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on Facebook:
"What great news. Democracy is still alive."Italy. The founder of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, hailed Trump's victory. He wrote:

"This is proof that these millions of demagogues are not the people,
they are journalists, intellectuals, anchored to a world that no longer
exists. There are similarities between these events in America and our
movement.... We are going to govern and they
will ask: 'But how did they do it?' They channelled the collective
anger."

"America regained its national sovereignty, its identity, it reclaimed its own democracy, that's why I call it a revolution.
"Now there is a leader, despite all the negativity spread about him
by the political elite and the press, that has only one concern, and
that is the national interest of the voters of America who are concerned
about immigration, who are concerned about the
job loss as a result of globalization, who are concerned about the
Islamization of their society. And he tends to say the truth and
convince people that if they start moving, anything is possible, and I
believe the historical event of yesterday will have an
enormous effect on European politics as well.
"The lesson for Europe is, what America can do we can do as well."

"Yesterday, the American people made it quite clear that they do not
want to follow in Western Europe's footsteps. They do not want to give
their country away. They want to preserve their nation, their freedoms,
their prosperity. They felt the time for liberation
had come.
"The American voters no longer want to be represented by politicians
who do not take their concerns seriously. They felt Donald Trump was the
only one who listens to them....
"America has just liberated itself from political correctness. The
American people expressed their desire to remain a free and democratic
people. Now it is time for Europe. We can and will do the same!"

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone
Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at
the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies
Group. Follow him onFacebook and
onTwitter.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

What Should Americans Be Talking About?

Should Americans uphold the Judeo-Christian values, which have governed Western civilization until now? Or should they quietly allow the defeat of those values by a false liberalism -- false, because it is anything but liberal -- which will allow values, such as that of Islamic sharia religious law to settle over the United States? Will people willingly surrender their own culture in order to avoid becoming victims of intimidation?

Worse, these policies often come in the seemingly benign-sounding terms of "diversity", "multiculturalism", "peace", "anti-racism", and "human rights"; but are often used in an Orwellian way to mean their own opposites. "Diversity" means, "It is great to look different so long as you think the same way I do" and is also an acceptance of Islamic values. "Anti-racism" often means, in a racist way, anti-white or anti-Jew. "Human rights" now means a political agenda. "Peace" is used to mean the destruction of Israel. "Multiculturalism" means any culture except the Judeo-Christian one -- regardless of whether that culture supports denigrating women, slavery, flogging, amputating limbs, murdering gays and the intolerance of all other religions and cultures. These inversions of language are having devastating consequences not only on university campuses, but also throughout the U.S. and abroad.

"The process of settlement is a 'Civilization-Jihadist Process' with all [that] the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers..." -- Muslim Brotherhood, 1991.

The question of whether to submit to these policies, as Europe is doing, or to uphold freedom, as Israel is doing, has arrived in the United States. The choice Americans make will immeasurably affect not just the US, but, despite sounding melodramatic, the future of Western civilization.

For the American voter, issues of immense urgency to the survival of the free world -- such as individual freedom, dispassionate enquiry and freedom of speech and thought, which we dangerously have come to take for granted -- are being derailed by crude language and behavior, when Americans need to be paying attention to serious threats to the United States, its allies and to the values of the West.
Internationally, these threats come from Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and countless terrorist groups.
Domestically, they appear in the form of massive corruption -- financial and otherwise -- that is visibly hollowing out American institutions, such as the FBI (the failure to follow investigative procedure, followed by calls for FBI Director James Comey's resignation); the Department of Justice (the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal, and the Attorney General meeting with a former president whose wife is under investigation); the State Department (email leaks are still yielding up evidence of collusion between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department under Hillary Clinton); the IRS (targeting conservative non-profits, and raiding the businesses of private citizens, who disagree with policy); the Environmental Protection Agency's attempt toacquire power over every puddle in America) and the Executive branch in the "I have a pen and I have a phone" president's dealings with Iran.
There have also been attempts by outsiders to incite racial and religious anarchy. The entrepreneur George Soros, for example, donated $33 million to turn events in Ferguson, Missouri from a local protest into chaos.

There have been attempts by outsiders to incite racial and religious anarchy. The entrepreneur George Soros, for example, donated $33 million to turn events in Ferguson, Missouri from a local protest into chaos. (Image source: World Economic Forum)

Instead of helping Americans to create a safer, more prosperous way of life, the Ferguson events destroyed a community, devastated small business owners, and eroded security, the rule of law, and any hope for a better future. Who benefits? Creating chaos embeds a political dependency: rather than helping people to climb out of poverty, it keeps them voting for politicians to "rescue" them.
Jews and Israel are also targeted -- often, regrettably, by other Jews, who appear naïvely to hope that they will thereby "immunize" themselves from attacks on Jews. Recently, for example, an article accused the U.S. Republican presidential election campaign of "significantly enhancing the presence of antisemitism in the public arena."
Seriously?
While "conservative" radicals, such as white supremacists do exist, they are not even close to overtaking the mainstream discourse. That space, rather, seems to have been filled in the last decades by self-described "liberals" who now seem to dominate it to such a degree that the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago, John Ellison, felt obliged to write a letter warning prospective applicants not to expect a "safe space." "Conservative" radicals are not the ones hunting down Jews -- "liberals" and Islamists are victimizing and shutting them out.
Ironically of course, the liberals have not yet figured out that the agendas of these two groups are incompatible (as in gender equality); perhaps they are trying to "immunize" themselves, too.
Public debate in the US, particularly in the next few weeks, really needs to be about choosing what policies would actually improve the lives of Americans. Should they uphold the Judeo-Christian values, which have governed Western civilization until now? Or should they quietly allow the defeat of those values by a false liberalism -- false, because it is anything but liberal -- which will allow values, such as that of Islamic sharia religious law to settle over the United States? Will people willingly surrender their own culture in order to avoid becoming victims of intimidation?
American university campuses, which should proudly be championing debate of all ideas, have instead been rife with antisemitism for years, mostly because a "thought police" obsessed with identity politics -- another way of saying my race, religion, skin color or sexual proclivity is good, yours is not -- has overtaken campuses and turned them into embittered war-zones. It is postmodern Stalinism.
Worse, these policies often come in the seemingly benign-sounding terms of "diversity", "multiculturalism", "peace", "anti-racism", and "human rights"; but are often used in an Orwellian way to mean their own opposites. "Diversity" means, "it is great to look different so long as you think the same way I do" and is also and acceptance of Islamic values﻿﻿. "Anti-racism" often means, in a racist way, anti-white or anti-Jew. "Human rights" now means a political agenda. "Peace" is used to mean the destruction of Israel. "Multiculturalism" means any culture except the Judeo-Christian one -- regardless of whether that culture supports denigrating women, slavery, flogging, amputating limbs, murdering gays and the intolerance of all other religions and cultures. These inversions of language are having devastating consequences not only on university campuses, but also throughout the U.S. and abroad.
The glue that brings "liberals" and Islamists, such as the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in the US (a front[1] for the Muslim Brotherhood), together in a common cause is the goal of eradicating Israel -- of course always only under the euphemisms of "helping Palestinians" and "Peace," even though Jihadi camps for children were organized first by Palestinians.
A 1991 official document authored by the Muslim Brotherhood outlines its strategic goals for civilizational jihad in North America. It depicts the Muslim Brotherhood's plans for civilization jihad in the United States stating:

"The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all [that] the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers... [W]e must possess a mastery of the art of "coalitions", the art of "absorption" and the principles of "cooperation."

The question of whether to submit to these policies, as Europe is doing, or to uphold freedom, as Israel is doing, has arrived in the United States. The choice Americans make will immeasurably affect not just the US, but, despite sounding melodramatic, the future of Western civilization.

Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.

[1] In a 1991 official document authored by the Muslim Brotherhood, outlining its strategic goals for civilizational jihad in North America, the Muslim Students Association was mentioned as "one of our organizations and the organizations of our friends", that is, a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood. The document was entered as evidence in the 2008 Holyland Terror Funding Trial.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Words Versus Deeds

Donald Trump's gutter talk about women shows yet again that he is bad news. The problem is that Hillary Clinton is far worse.Trump's talk is indefensible. But Hillary Clinton's actions as Secretary of State, carrying out the Obama administration's foreign policies, have cost many lives in many places, including the American ambassador and others killed in Benghazi.Women have a right to be offended by Trump's words. But women have suffered a far worse fate from Secretary Clinton's and President Obama's actions. Pulling American troops out of Iraq, despite military advice to the contrary, led to the sudden rise of ISIS and their seizing of many women and young girls as sex slaves.A message from one of these women urged the bombing of ISIS. She said she would rather be dead than live the life of a sex slave. Some women who tried to commit suicide and failed have been tortured for trying.Meanwhile, President Obama tried to downplay ISIS with flippant words, by calling them the junior varsity. His half-hearted, foot-dragging military response has allowed ISIS to parade before the world as triumphant conquerors, appealing to disgruntled people in Western countries to carry out terrorist attacks in support of their cause.That is a lot worse than some stupid and gross words by Donald Trump, which even he has had to repudiate. Make no mistake about it. Neither party has a good candidate for President. The choice is between bad and disastrous.

Saturday, October 08, 2016

The stillborn legacy of Barack Obama

Only amid the most bizarre, most tawdry, most addictive election campaign in memory could the real story of 2016 be so effectively obliterated, namely, that with just four months left in the Obama presidency, its two central pillars are collapsing before our eyes: domestically, its radical reform of American health care, a.k.a. Obamacare; and abroad, its radical reorientation of American foreign policy — disengagement marked by diplomacy and multilateralism.

Obamacare.

On Monday, Bill Clinton called it “the craziest thing in the world.” And he was only talking about one crazy aspect of it — the impact on the consumer. Clinton pointed out that small business and hardworking employees (“out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week”) are “getting whacked . . . their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.”

This, as the program’s entire economic foundation is crumbling. More than half its nonprofit “co-ops” have gone bankrupt. Major health insurers like Aetna and UnitedHealthcare, having lost millions of dollars, are withdrawing from the exchanges. In one-third of the U.S., exchanges will have only one insurance provider. Premiums and deductibles are exploding. Even the New York Times blares “Ailing Obama Health Care Act May Have to Change to Survive.”

Young people, refusing to pay disproportionately to subsidize older and sicker patients, are not signing up. As the risk pool becomes increasingly unbalanced, the death spiral accelerates. And the only way to save the system is with massive infusions of tax money.

What to do? The Democrats will eventually push to junk Obamacare for a full-fledged, government-run, single-payer system. Republicans will seek to junk it for a more market-based pre-Obamacare-like alternative. Either way, the singular domestic achievement of this presidency dies.

The Obama Doctrine.

At the same time, Obama’s radically reoriented foreign policy is in ruins. His vision was to move away from a world where stability and “the success of liberty” (JFK, inaugural address) were anchored by American power and move toward a world ruled by universal norms, mutual obligation, international law and multilateral institutions. No more cowboy adventures, no more unilateralism, no more Guantanamo. We would ascend to the higher moral plane of diplomacy. Clean hands, clear conscience, “smart power.”

This blessed vision has just died a terrible death in Aleppo. Its unraveling was predicted and predictable, though it took fully two terms to unfold. This policy of pristine — and preening — disengagement from the grubby imperatives of realpolitik yielded Crimea, the South China Sea, the rise of the Islamic State, the return of Iran. And now the horror and the shame of Aleppo.

After endless concessions to Russian demands meant to protect and preserve the genocidal regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, last month we finally capitulated to a deal in which we essentially joined Russia in that objective. But such is Vladimir Putin’s contempt for our president that he wouldn’t stop there.

He blatantly violated his own cease-fire with an air campaign of such spectacular savagery — targeting hospitals, water-pumping stations and a humanitarian aid convoy — that even Barack Obama and John Kerry could no longer deny that Putin is seeking not compromise but conquest. And is prepared to kill everyone in rebel-held Aleppo to achieve it. Obama, left with no options — and astonishingly, having prepared none — looks on.

At the outset of the war, we could have bombed Assad’s airfields and destroyed his aircraft, eliminating the regime’s major strategic advantage — control of the air.

Five years later, we can’t. Russia is there. Putin has just installed S-300 antiaircraft missiles near Tartus. Yet, none of the rebels have any air assets. This is a warning and deterrent to the only power that could do something — the United States.

Obama did nothing before. He will surely do nothing now. For Americans, the shame is palpable. Russia’s annexation of Crimea may be an abstraction, but that stunned, injured little boy in Aleppo is not.

What’s left of the Obama legacy? Even Democrats are running away from Obamacare. And who will defend his foreign policy of lofty speech and cynical abdication?“What is Aleppo?” famously asked Gary Johnson. Answer: the burial ground of the Obama fantasy of benign disengagement.

In 2014, Obama said, “Make no mistake: [My] policies are on the ballot.” Democrats were crushed in that midterm election.

This time around, Obama says, “My legacy’s on the ballot.” If the 2016 campaign hadn’t turned into a referendum on character — a battle fully personalized and ad hominem — the collapse of the Obama legacy would indeed be right now on the ballot. And his party would be 20 points behind.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

RESIDENT, PROTESTS HAVEN’T IMPROVED BLACK LIVES

President, protests haven’t improved black lives

Marshall Frank, community columnist12:05 a.m. EDT September 18, 2016

(This Op-Ed column appears in Florida Today, this date.)

I’m one American citizen who’s heard enough of the rhetoric about black oppression and white supremacy. Race baiters continue to stoke the flames of hatred because it intimidates and garners attention.

Fact: Race relations in this country have taken a nose dive since the inauguration of Barack Obama. And that’s not because more people have become racist.

Despite being led by a first-black president, little has improved for poor blacks in America today, than in 2009. Obama has made some black appointments in high places, hosted lots of rich celebrities in the White House and made lots of speeches, but the fact remains, black unemployment remains dismal today and the plight of violent, inner-city criminal activity among black youths has soared.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rate for young blacks up to age 24 stands at 20.6 percent, more than double that of white males in the same age bracket. According to the Pew Research Center, the rate of blacks living in poverty is 27.2 percent, higher than in 2009 when the rate stood at 25.8 percent.

The Department of Commerce reports that in 2012, 13 percent of recipients of federal aid such as Medicaid and housing assistance are white, 23 percent are Hispanic and 41.6 percent are black. The median income among black households has declined 1.5 percent in the seven years President Obama has been in office.

So, what has Obama accomplished for people of color?

The National Review published an article on March 24 that cited the backslide of black people under the first black president. Pandering for votes, Donald Trump has asked the black community, “What have you got to lose?”

Oppression and discrimination against blacks is a shameful part of American history, no one can dispute that.

However, the racial disparities of the mid-20th century have been vigorously addressed by government and educational institutions and for the most part, are eliminated. The Black Lives Matter movement was born of a sham, an absolute lie from which the anarchists have capitalized, making things worse, not better, in police/community relations.

I personally witnessed the arc of change from my early days as a police rookie in Miami-Dade in the 1960s to modern times. Black oppression and white privilege absolutely existed.

But big changes started in the 1970s through the turn of the century. School busing programs were enacted. Blacks have been awarded special consideration for college scholarship programs. Revised hiring and promotion systems within public and private sector organizations were instituted to ensure opportunities to blacks, Hispanics and women.

Many civil service jobs once had a strict process for promotions, which included testing and performance. They were amended to allow appointments up the ladder based on color, sex and ethnicity, not just performance. I know. I was there. I watched when minority officers were catapulted to top-level commanders in order to equalize disparities there. Cops, in general, accepted the new thinking as part of the evolution. Some resented having followed the rules for years only to find themselves working under people who did not.

Today, blacks have made enormous progress. Besides a black president, and many blacks heading government departments, minorities successfully lead in a wide range of work places including big business, politics, media, sports and entertainment, banking, military and more.

But that has not elevated millions of other blacks out of the morass of welfare dependency, nor has it improved family environments for kids, where 75 percent of infants are born out of wedlock, leaving mothers to find low-level jobs, glean what they can from welfare, and leave their teenage kids to be raised and influenced by others in the ‘hood. The beat goes on.

We need to end the guilt trips and the blame game, and start creating more opportunity for everyone.